Federal offices in the Washington, DC area are under another three hour delayed arrival status on Wednesday, January 5 according to the Office of Personnel Management.
The DC area is struggling in the aftermath of the recent snow storm, so federal employees in the area have had disrupted schedules for commuting to offices each day so far this week. One high profile example of the disruptions caused by the storm was the massive traffic jam on a portion of I-95 in Virginia where drivers were stranded overnight due to the snow. The road closure even left one of the state’s Senators, Tim Kaine (D-VA), stranded for over 20 hours on his commute.
Operating Status for Wednesday, January 5, 2022
STATUS: OPEN – 3 HOURS DELAYED ARRIVAL – WITH OPTION FOR UNSCHEDULED LEAVE OR UNSCHEDULED TELEWORK
Federal offices in the Washington, DC area are OPENunder 3 hours DELAYED ARRIVAL and employees have the OPTION FOR UNSCHEDULED LEAVE OR UNSCHEDULED TELEWORK. Employees should plan to arrive for work no more than 3 hours later than they would be expected to arrive.
Non-Emergency Employees who report to the office will be granted weather and safety leave for up to 3 hours past their expected arrival time. In accordance with their agency’s policies and procedures (including required notification of the employee’s supervisor) and subject to any applicable collective bargaining requirements (as consistent with law), non-emergency employees have the option to use:
- earned annual leave, compensatory time off, credit hours, or sick leave, as appropriate;
- leave without pay;
- their flexible work schedule day off or rearrange their work hours under flexible work schedules; or
- unscheduled telework.
Emergency Employees are expected to report to their worksite on time unless otherwise directed by their agencies.
Telework Employees (i.e., employees who are participating in a telework program, including those who perform telework regularly and those who telework on an ad hoc basis) who choose not to report to the regular office must be prepared to telework, take unscheduled leave or other paid time off, or a combination-thereby accounting for the entire workday. In general, weather and safety leave is not available to telework employees who do not report to the regular office. Treatment of telework employees is subject to applicable law, regulations, agency policies and procedures, and any applicable collective bargaining requirements (as consistent with law).
Leave. In general, an employee on preapproved leave (paid or unpaid) or other paid time off (e.g., compensatory time off, credit hours)-including an employee who requests unscheduled leave or other paid time off-should be charged leave or other paid time off and not receive weather and safety leave.
